Home sales stabilize

Published 12:02 am, Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Home sales leveled off in June after declining almost every month for the past year in the Houston area.

Sales of single-family homes crept up 0.6 percent in June compared with a year earlier, according to a monthly report released Tuesday from the Houston Association of Realtors.

The improvement, though, is more reflective of a slowdown in home buying this time last year than of a market recovery.

Sales slowed last year after the April expiration of the federal homebuyer tax credit. The credit triggered a surge in home purchases last spring, pulling forward sales that would have happened later in the year.

Properties under $80,000 and those priced from $250,000 showed the most improvement, according to the realty association. The popular middle range, consisting of homes priced between $80,000 and $250,000, saw declines.

It may be months before the effects from the tax credit are worked out of the system and the local data provide an accurate reading of the market. But housing will continue to improve as the Houston economy does well, said Carlos P. Bujosa, the association's chairman.

"We don't really see any reason for concern at this time, because it looks like we have some job growth," he said.

Still, jobs aren't always translating into home sales.

Some people moving here for work are renting instead of buying right away. In some cases, they're still trying to sell homes in other cities.

As a result, rental properties are in high demand.

The association, which also tracks properties for lease, said demand for single-family home rentals rose 19.2 percent. Townhouse and condominium rentals jumped 19.5 percent.

There were other positive signs in the report.

The June single-family home median price - the figure at which half of the homes sold for more and half sold for less - increased 2.2 percent from a year earlier, to $161,000.

And pending sales at the end of June were up 18.3 percent over last year.

But the amount of time it takes to sell a home was 83 days. That's up 15 percent over where it was last year.

The inventory of single-family homes rose as well. It would now take 7.9 months to sell all those currently on the market, up from 7.3 months in June 2010, indicating that buyers generally have the upper hand.

Real estate agent Sissy Lappin said homes that are well priced and in great condition are selling.

Sellers who aren't willing to make repairs are having to drop their prices.